Deacons East Africa yesterday listed on the Nairobi bourse’s Alternative Investments Market (AIMS) board introducing 123,558,228 shares at Sh15 each valuing the company at Sh1.85 billion. This is part of plans to enhance local and regional presence as the company plans to set up a 60-store retail chain by 2020.

“Listing will give us access to the capital market which offer deep pool of resources that we may need in future,” said chairman Peter Njoka at the NSE before the bell rang. The lifestyle firm’s total assets are said to have increased to Sh2.49 billion in 2015 from Sh1.50 billion in 2010.

With the exception of Aureos East Africa Fund LLC, most of the funds will be locked up because other shareholders cannot sell more than 50 per cent of their share holding for 24 months from the date of listing.

The existing shareholders with more than 3.0 per cent shareholding ­— and who have direct influence over the management of the company through representation on the Board – were granted by Capital Markets Authority (CMA) a 50 per cent waiver for having been locked up since the Public Offer in 2010.

CMA is said to have granted the 100 per cent waiver because of Aureos East Africa Fund LLC following Aureos’s nature of business. Aureos is a financial investor — who due to the nature of their business — would appreciate the option of liquidity to meet their financial obligations, and having previously gone above and beyond the minimum lock-up requirements in the previous Public Offer.

Aureos shareholding represents 5.53 per cent of the issued share capital compared to 27.75 per cent, which is the total percentage shareholding of those who agreed to lock up 50.0 per cent of their shares.